Albanian Socialists Eye Landslide Victory

Fuente: 
Balkan Insight
Fecha de publicación: 
25 Jun 2013

As the vote count continued for a third day on Tuesday, the left-wing opposition held onto its lead that would likely secure it 84 of the 140 seats in Albania’s parliament.

Socialist leader Edi Rama called on Prime Minister Sali Berisha to concede defeat, while underlining the importance that the remaining ballots are counted without further delay.  

“We calmly wait for our opponent to concede defeat,” Rama said at a press conference.

“This is the time for all parties to work together so that the counting process can end, and Albania can move on,” he added.

So far Rama’s Alliance for a European Albania has secured 57.8 per cent of the national vote against Berisha’s coalition, which won 39.3 per cent of the ballots.

Because of Albania's regional proportional voting system, the popular vote does not directly translate into the number of seats that each party will get.

The OSCE on Monday described the election as free and competitive, but added that it had been tainted by the murder of an opposition supporter and the wounding of a ruling Democratic Party candidate on election day.

Albania has long history of elections marred by fraud and violence and the European Commission warned that the poll needed to meet international standards if Albania was to make progress in its accession process toward the EU.

In a statement on twitter, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, Stefan Fule, welcomed the "smooth voting process" on Sunday and urged the rapid completion of the count.

“Albania needs to complete the process in line with international standards to move ahead with EU integration,” Fule said. 

 

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/albania-opposition-eyes-landslid...